Review of Lesson of the Evil (2012) by Ben S — 28 Sep 2014

In Takashi Miike's Lesson of Evil there is a 90 minute, gruesome, high school slasher flick fighting to get out - but unfortunately as it clocks in at just over 2 hours the slow turn of the screw doesn't build the tension and thrills, but instead allows them to dissipate before the carnage and bloodletting has even begun.

This is the story of handsome, charismatic teacher Hasumi (Hideaki It?) who - as these people often do - harbours a dark, murderous past. A favourite of the pupils, Hasumi is always ruffling hair and looking out for the kids - but the entire school is sent into panic as a series of murders sweeps through the community's overbearing parents and most ill-behaved students in a grim, warped justice. Following a prologue of a naked 14-year-old butchering his parents with a carving knife and infrequent flashbacks to Hasumi's psychotic life whilst studying in America, we know who the culprit is. But how long will it take everyone else to see through his charming exterior?

Setting the clean lines of the school and crisp mustard yellow uniforms against intermittent flashes of rusty blades and Hasumi's grotty cabin, from the outset Miike builds mystery and swirling darkness below the pupils' breezy school life. He keeps the first bloody moment at arm's length for a long time, even throwing a few red herrings in the mix in the shape of a couple of dubious looking fellow teachers. With all this time to set the scene you'd expect the film to offer more in the way of character development but, despite good work from Hideaki and the rest of the cast, the depth of material isn't there to offer anything more than the base level genre tropes. We know it's Hasumi, we know he's off his rocker, but his full blown sociopathic outbreak is kept infuriatingly quiet for far too long. This is a cut and thrust bit of genre entertainment, but it forgets to act like one.

When it finally mutates into an old school, gore hungry slasher movie - replete with glorious physical effects - Lesson of Evil is at its strongest, providing 40 solid minutes of morally suspect bloody slaughter. It's a shame the wait to get there is so ponderous. Another hint of what might have been comes in the form of a truly WTF body horror moment as we briefly verge on psychotic, supernatural territory. By this stage a bit of extra madness is desperately welcome, after such a slow build of little excitement and even less consequence. Far from a total failure, this film is handsomely shot and the twinkling/Bateman-esque performance of Hideaki ensures a constant watchability - but its unfulfilled aspirations towards a deeper psychological thriller limit its cheap thrills.